WASHINGTON (Sept. 14, 2017) – The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today announced a new Alliance designed to foster safer and more healthful American workplaces operating with diisocyanate chemicals along the polyurethane value chain. Three groups from ACC will lead the work with OSHA: the Center for the Polyurethanes Industry (CPI), Diisocyanates (DII) and Aliphatic Diisocyanates (ADI) panels.
The Alliance has three primary goals: raising awareness of OSHA’s rulemaking and enforcement initiatives, conducting training to educate employers, workers and OSHA officials on safety issues, and developing effective outreach and communication efforts to increase the visibility of the partnership and its goals.
“We’re thrilled to be working with OSHA on making American workplaces even safer, which has always been a top priority for CPI and ACC as a whole,” said Lee Salamone, senior director of CPI. “Our partnership with OSHA will build on our strong foundation of product stewardship and outreach and will help us identify additional areas of emphasis so we can better target our activities.”
According to the agreement, the Alliance partnership aims to provide members, occupational physicians, stakeholders and others in the polyurethanes value chain with information, guidance and access to training resources that will help them further protect the health and safety of workers.
“The chemical industry is committed to safety and this partnership supports our continuing efforts to enhance worker protection,” said Sahar Osman-Sypher, director of DII and ADI. “The partnership will work toward further educating workers and employers on how to use diisocyanates safely in their everyday working environment.”
The agreement, which was signed on Sept. 13, provides the framework for the two organizations to work together toward the previously mentioned common goals. The agreement also stipulates a timeframe of two years – through September 2019 – for the Alliance.
For more information about diisocyanates and polyurethanes, please visit CPI’s website, which hosts an extensive resource library. The DII panel page and the ADI panel page each contain a wide range of resources, including a video that showcases how daily products are made better with diisocyanates and an infographic about the decrease in diisocyanates-related asthma cases.